Xu Zhi, Huifeng and Zhou Yuanzhi spent the New Year in Caizhou, and it was the Lantern Festival in a blink of an eye.

Xu Zhi saw that Zhou Yuanzhi had changed into a woolen coat, and she looked extraordinarily energetic, but her demeanor was a little shy and timid, unlike in the past, no matter how Huifeng made her happy, she always frowned slightly and rarely spoke. Xu Zhi thought to himself: The heart of this girl's family is really hard to fathom.

The three of them went out of the inn, and there was a fresh east wind in front of them, although the first month is still the season of cold and freezing, but everything recovers after the beginning of spring, and the wind and rain are mixed with a faint breath of spring. The three of them saw that the shops on both sides of the street were full of colorful lanterns: there were simple lotus lanterns, character lanterns, animal lanterns, as well as palace lanterns that were several zhang high, and dragon lanterns that were several zhang long, which were colorful and exquisitely workmanlike, which made people breathtaking, and overwhelmed them, and attracted many children to stop and watch, and clamored to their parents to buy them and play at home.

Huifeng kept beckoning Zhou Yuanzhi to look at the lights along the way, but Zhou Yuanzhi seemed to have something on her mind, so she was just lazy to deal with him, and her interest in watching the lights was not high.

Zhou Yuanzhi saw that there was an intersection not far from Yanyu Building, crowded with people watching the excitement, and everyone was listening to a reading person reading a notice posted on the wall, and hurriedly beckoned Xu and Hui to watch. The three of them squeezed into the crowd, and they heard different discussions, and this one asked, "Is this true?" and the other replied, "How can it be fake? Even the notice has been posted, can it still be fake?"

One person pretended to be mysterious and said: "You may not know, the Yellow King only has such a righteous daughter, who looks like a fairy, has outstanding literary talent and martial arts, and even his character and bearing are extraordinary." This person who read the notice is the general Shang Rang who is in charge of the secretary under the command of King Huang, and the matter of King Huang recruiting relatives for his righteous daughter should be true. ”

After a while, I only heard the general read aloud again: "The heroes of Caizhou in the east, west, north and south, have you heard clearly? I will read it again to you: Huang Wang, the chief leader of the world's righteous army and the generalissimo of soldiers and horses, sincerely invites young talents from all over the world to gather in Caizhou Yanyulou on the Shangyuan Festival to choose the best son-in-law for his beloved daughter. ”

Zhou Yuanzhi was ashamed when she heard this, and scolded in a low voice: "This thing is really ridiculous, how can any parents tell the world that they are really old and confused when they choose a husband for their daughter!", after scolding, she turned around and secretly glanced at Xu and Hui, and saw that they were still looking at the notice on the wall.

After reading the notice, the three of them followed the lively crowd and came to the smoke and rain downstairs. The smoke and rain building is a three-storey, carved beams and painted Linxuan tower, this is a famous restaurant in Caizhou City, as early as half a year ago the building was booked by Huang Chao, a high martial arts ring was set up on the open ground under the platform, the ring is surrounded by various dragon and tiger flags, there are hundreds of soldiers wearing armor holding spears, bows and arrows to stand guard, so that it is difficult for idle people to approach the ring.

In the morning, sitting in the middle of the smoke and rain tower is a burly, extraordinary middle-aged man, he is wearing gold armor, waist across the big ring of gold silk sword, this person is the general leader of the world's righteous army, the generalissimo of soldiers and horses Huang Chao, behind him stood a group of guards with knives, holding the flag of honor, silver helmet and plain armor, majestic. On the left side of the Huangchao stood an eight-foot-tall, heavy-armored middle-aged general, who was Zhu Wen, the pioneer of the Righteous Army and the general of Caizhou City Defense.

At this time, a lot of people have gathered in the outermost part of the Yanyu Building, most of them are local or foreign merchants and people who came to see the lively businessmen, and there are more and more people who come to the Yanyu Building to watch the competition and recruit relatives.

Near the inner layer of the ring, there were already many young people standing in different directions according to the different sects of the region, and these people were all VIPs invited by Huang Chao. Standing to the north was a group of Black Eagle Sect disciples wearing black robes and crisscrossing several northern provinces; to the east stood a group of Shenlong Sect disciples wearing green shirts and short robes who were threatening the southeast coast; to the south were crowded with Suzaku Sect members wearing red flame costumes who were growing in the southern provinces; and to the west stood the disciples of the Hezhou Tiger Gang, who claimed to be able to "open mountains and suppress tigers."

In addition, many sects that supported and sympathized with the rebels, such as the Shenjak Gate in Jinju and the Spear Society in Xuzhou, also sent many young people to cheer. Even the Jiang Temple in Jiangzhou and the Changjiao Gang in Yuezhou, who usually secretly opposed the Huangchao Uprising, sent a small number of disciples to secretly participate in the meeting after receiving the invitation.

In addition, Huang Chao also secretly invited Shaolin, Wudang, Emei, and Huashan major factions to participate in this hero conference, but they were all rejected by these famous and decent factions for various reasons, and only the Taishan faction could not shirk it, so they sent a second-generation disciple Zhiguang to participate, which was enough for Huang Chao's face. Huang Chao also knew that Zhiguang was the host of this conference, judging the world's young talents and recruiting relatives for the righteous daughter.

In the morning, Huang Chao announced the start of the hero conference, he stood up and arched his hand to everyone downstairs, and said loudly: "Huang is not talented, today he dares to invite the world's talents to gather in Caizhou Yanyu Building, one is to recruit relatives for the righteous daughter's competition, and the other is to discuss major matters with the heroes of the world." ”

As soon as Huang Chao's words were finished, a cheer sounded downstairs in the smoke and rain, and the sound of humility was heard. Huang Chao took the hand of Master Zhiguang beside him and introduced to everyone downstairs: "Today we are fortunate to invite Master Zhiguang of the Taishan faction to be the host and impartial person of this competition. Now I would like to ask Master Zhiguang to announce the schedule and rules of this competition. ”

Master Zhiguang humbled to Huang Chao and the others for a while before announcing: "The entire Heroes Conference is divided into three stages: the first stage is to test martial arts, the second stage is to debate the situation in the world, and the third stage is to appoint a son-in-law by Huang Wang's beloved daughter. The three processes hope that all heroes will actively participate, show their talents, and achieve good stories. ”

Xu Zhi and Huifeng were very surprised when they heard it in the audience, they both stared at Zhou Yuanzhi with their eyes, and couldn't help but shake their heads and said, "Why does King Huang's beloved daughter still have a martial arts competition?"

Zhou Yuanzhi said with a smile: "Why can't the daughter of the Yellow King recruit relatives and choose a son-in-law? The two masters can also go on stage to give it a try, maybe they can beat the crowd and win the hearts of beauties!"

Xu Zhi and Huifeng saw that Zhou Yuanzhi was sharp-toothed, and they were afraid that they wouldn't be able to say anything about her, so they were silent. I only heard Zhiguang upstairs continue to say aloud: "The first stage of the competition, regardless of the sect region, regardless of the origin, the world's heroes can participate, adopt the elimination system, the eight sects participating in the election of eight people as candidates, if there is any dissatisfaction in the audience, you can come to the stage to challenge the eight people, the loser is eliminated, and the winner stays to continue to accept the challenge, until no one challenges three days later." In addition, each faction competes in martial arts, and the point is up to the point, and life and death are not decided. The final eight winners advance to the next round. ”

After Zhiguang announced the rules of the competition, a gong sounded and the competition officially began, and each sect carefully selected their respective candidates in order to suppress other sects and show their strength, whether in martial arts or in appearance.

The candidates selected by the Shenlong Sect, the Vermilion Bird Gate, the Spear Gate, and the Jiang Shenmiao were the sons of the sect leader, while the other four gangs elected young and promising deputy gang leaders or left and right messengers.

Xu Zhi and the three of them saw that the eight major factions had just selected candidates for the competition, and the heroes in the audience were already ready to move, and after a while, eight heroes jumped onto the stage and went to challenge the eight candidates. During this period, some people in the audience talked from time to time: "Now that the Yellow King's righteous army is powerful, it will not be difficult to overthrow the imperial court and ascend the throne in the future! Therefore, the winner of this competition will not only be able to achieve a good story of marriage, but will also be the concubine of the world in the future, and he will be dazzling and rich in his life." ”

Huifeng listened to these discussions, and also envied: "Such a big wealth, men want to go on stage to try their luck!", after speaking, he secretly glanced at Zhou Yuanzhi beside him, and saw that she cast a disdainful glance at him, and he couldn't wait to find a crack in the ground to get into.

Zhou Yuanzhi didn't pay attention to him, but said to Xu Zhi: "Master Xu's martial arts are outstanding, you might as well try it on stage, maybe you can marry a beautiful master and come back." After speaking, he laughed out loud at Xu Zhige.

Xu Zhi glared at Zhou Yuanzhi, and Zhou Yuanzhi said to herself: "I am kind enough to think about him, but he doesn't appreciate it like this, how can this be good!"

In the blink of an eye, the eight challengers had all fallen off the stage, and they didn't dare to face everyone in the audience, and retreated to the side with shame on their faces. In addition, the children of the eight factions who won the victory shouted loudly and triumphantly. Suddenly, Yun Feiyang's familiar voice came from the audience: "General Zhou, you also learned from the Tiger Gate, the kid from the Tiger Gate on the field should be your junior, right?

Zhou Chen replied: "Lord Yun is on top, how dare the little one steal the limelight from the adult!"

Yun Feiyang replied: "I'm not interested in these little jasper, if you are interested, just go up and practice your skills, don't worry about me, I will cheer for you below." ”

At this time, someone flattered and said: "How can Lord Yun be comparable to us, Lord Yun loves the golden branches and jade leaves, Princess Xiuyun, those village and mountain women, Princess Caokou, how can you make adults interested!"

Zhou Chen also flattered: "Lord Su Wen is infatuated with Princess Xiuyun, it's really admirable! Then let his subordinates show their skills this time!" After speaking, a "harrier turned over", jumped into the ring, and went straight to challenge Ou Yangguang, the deputy gang leader of the Tiger Gate, Ou Yangguang has won two games in a row, and it is the time when he is proud and empty-eyed. Suddenly, when he heard someone coming to challenge, he didn't raise his head or open his eyes, and asked, "Who is the challenger?

It is said that Zhou Chen is much older than Ou Yangguang, but after Zhou Chen debuted in the Tiger Gang, he took refuge in the imperial court, went south and north to do things for the imperial court, and broke off contact with the Tiger Gang after a long time. Therefore, there are very few people who know him among the juniors of the Tiger Gate, so Ou Yangguang, as the deputy gang leader, does not know him, so he asks this question.

Zhou Chen said with a smile: "The juniors of the Tiger Gang have heard clearly, my name is Zhou Chen, and I am also from the Tiger Sect, so I am also your uncle." When you see the elders, you still don't salute?"

Ou Yangguang snorted, "If you can win me with your own kung fu, I will recognize you as my uncle, otherwise you should call me my ancestor, grandpa will let you see the true kung fu of our Tiger Gate!" After speaking, he was proud of his martial arts, and he didn't even take the elder Zhou Chen in his eyes.

Zhou Chen was furious when he heard this, and shouted, "You kid is too arrogant, let Uncle Shi teach you how to treat your elders!", after speaking, it was a move "Hungry Tiger Pounces", and flew towards Ou Yangguang.

Ou Yangguang saw that Zhou Chen was fierce, he didn't dare to slack off, he didn't retreat, and used the avoidance to vent the strength in Zhou Chen's palm, so he made a move, "Tiger out of the mountain", and only took Zhou Chen's eyes with his fists.

Zhou Chenyi was bold, and he didn't retreat, he returned a move "Dragon and Tiger Leap", waved his palm to open Ou Yangguang's fists, and then jumped to Ou Yangguang's left side, and slapped Ouyang Guang's temple with another palm.

Ou Yangguang was taken aback when he saw that Zhou Chen was indeed a peerless student of his own sect, and quickly lowered his head to dodge, and returned a trick of "opening the mountain and suppressing the tiger". This move "opening the mountain and suppressing the tiger" was originally a false move, and the "tiger digging out the heart" that followed it was a real move. It turned out that Ou Yangguang thought to himself that the tricks and styles of this door are easy to be stolen and impersonated by outsiders, but the mastery of the virtual and the real and the integration is by no means something that outsiders can learn one day, and this "tiger digging out the heart" is one of the three lore of the tiger, just because it is hidden behind the false move, it is difficult for the enemy to identify and prevent it.

How do you know that Zhou Chen has already taken precautions, avoiding the "Kaishan Town Tiger", which is also a move "Tiger Digging Heart", both fists come out, exactly the same as Ou Yangguang's moves, the two fists collide together, and the Tiger Gang everyone saw that the two of them had used their own stunts, and they applauded, and then exclaimed. I saw Ou Yangguang take seven or eight steps back, stepped into the air, and fell off the stage, while Zhou Chen only took two or three steps back, but he was still standing on the stage.

At this time, Zhiguang upstairs announced loudly: "Zhou Chen won this competition, and Ou Yangguang was eliminated." ”

Besides, Hui Feng's heart was itching at this time, and she also wanted to behave well in front of Zhou Yuanzhi, so that she could impress herself. So he targeted He Menglong, the candidate of the Changjiao Gang. This He Menglong is not only good at kung fu in the water, but also first-class kung fu with fists and feet, and has great prestige in the Changjiao Gang, and he became the deputy gang leader at a young age, and his status is second only to the gang leader Jiang Chengfeng. Hui Feng jumped into the ring without discussing with Xu and Erren, Xu Zhi was taken aback, and shouted repeatedly: "Senior Brother Hui, be careful." ”

Zhou Yuanzhi also shouted, "Master Hui, be careful. ”

He Menglong and Huifeng exchanged names, and then handed them over, Xu Zhi observed carefully, He Menglong and Huifeng's moves were the same, and they both used the method of "four or two to dial a thousand gold".

He Menglong made a move to "ride the wind and waves", Huifeng returned a hand of "Cangsong welcomes guests", He Menglong is another move "stormy waves", Huifeng followed by a move "Kunpeng spreads his wings", Xu Zhi saw that the two were really chess opponents, Huifeng was a move and a style, both offensive and defensive, and after a hundred moves, Huifeng slowly occupied the peak.

The two fought for nearly 100 moves, Hui Feng saw that He Menglong's moves were chaotic, only the power of parrying, and there was no ability to fight back.

He Menglong suddenly made a move to "wind and clouds", dancing his sleeves, and exuding incense from his sleeves. Huifeng was eager to win, defenseless, and immediately inhaled the incense into his mouth and nose, only to feel that his body was weak, only to know that he had fallen for He Menglong's trick, but it was too late, he could only turn attack into defense and persist.

The disciples of the Changjiao Gang in the audience couldn't help but applaud when they saw that their deputy gang leader had turned defeat into victory. It turns out that this Changjiao gang has been doing some robbery of property in the water all the year round, killing people and goods, and the means are not so open-minded, they will fight if they win, and if they can't win, they will use some incense and drugs to kill the other party, and then throw them into the Yangtze River to destroy the corpse.

He Menglong saw that Hui Feng's eyes were confused, his hands and feet trembled, he knew that his trick had succeeded, turned defense into offense, and added a killer to Hui Feng, and deliberately used one of the Changjiao Gang's town teaching stunts "earth-shattering", this "earth-shattering" comes from the Changjiao Gang's imitation of the "hurricane", which is to trap the opponent who fell into the downwind, and use dazzling tricks to disturb the enemy's mind, which looks imposing, just like a hurricane on the sea, quickly making it difficult to distinguish and defend.

Seeing that Hui Feng's situation was very dangerous, Zhou Yuanzhi looked at Xu Zhi helplessly, and shouted, "Master Hui was plotted by someone, what should I do now?" Xu Zhi responded: "I'll help him, Yuan Zhi, you stay where you are and don't leave." ”

Xu Zhi jumped on the stage, arched his hand to everyone upstairs and downstairs, respectful and polite, quite a master's demeanor, and then said to He Menglong: "Despicable villain, in front of the Yellow King and all the heroes of the world, you actually used dark incense to charm, what kind of hero are you?"

He Menglong listened to Xu Zhi's words, he was ashamed, and couldn't help but stop, and quibbled: "In the rules of the competition announced by Master Zhiguang: it is not said that hidden weapons cannot be used, even dark incense and drugs are not prohibited. If you want to blame, you can only blame this friend for his lack of martial arts and inferior skills. When the disciples of the Changjiao Gang in the audience heard this, they also echoed for a while.

Xu Zhi sneered: "It turns out that the Jiao Gang, the No. 1 Patriarch of Caoyun, relied on these means to become famous, and Deputy Gang Leader He's kung fu also wants to learn a lesson, please solve my junior brother's poison first!"

He Menglong didn't dare to play tricks in front of everyone, so he had to reply: "It's good to say!", took out a thin porcelain vial from his sleeve, and threw it to Xu Zhi.

Xu Zhi took the antidote, rescued Hui Feng, who was already groggy and delirious, and asked him to go to the stage to rest temporarily.